Pressies.

Lots of rain and time indoors to make pressies.

 

Firstly a tea cosy, with applique detail from Poppy Treffry's book

 (she shows coffee pot and egg cup cosies in the book but it's the same idea).

 

Thistle pin cushion..

 

 

Tartan mobile phone case..

 

 

Owl from pattern I bought from Retro Mama's shop..

 

 

 

Pictures not great as I can't get outside in this weather.

Bunting and grain bags to come.

 

Just hoping the recipients don't look at this!!

(And if they do they will just have to guess which is for them)!

Evie evolves

 

My Mum and Dad popped in and I showed them Evie.

Mum kind of held the hat up straight, and Dad suggested knees!

Now she can sit beautifully and her hat is tall and pointy.

Evie the Elf

I have been making the Elf I mentioned in my last post.

Instead of doing the sensible thing and buying the Christmas Book, I bought the spring one (because I wanted the rabbit pattern) and have been improvising from the Witch pattern.

The book is called 'Crafting Springtime Gifts' by Tilda.

What I failed to think about was the size of her nose.

It started like this..
 

but I thought it looked a bit big for an Elf and so did a bit of 'plastic' surgery.

I also made a bit of a hash of her shirt which was covered with a lovely pinnafore dress for the Witch, but looked a tad revealing on Evie and suggested she had eaten too many pies (or christmas puddings)!

After a few alterations, Evie is now suitably dressed for her duties of helping Santa and happily posed for a garden photo shoot in a sunny spell between the showers...
 

 

On the hedge.

Dangling from the Buddleia.

In the Rosemary.

In the bay tree.

 

And finally in the Holly Tree, ouch!!

A Beetle Bug in the Asters

This is Bert,  a 'beetle bug' from the book 'Softies' which I have mentioned before.
 It is a great book for soft toy patterns and this is the 7th type of toy pattern that I have made from the book now.
The pattern was easy to trace and the intructions simple to follow and he took less than an episode of 'New Tricks' on the iplayer to make. The head is blanket, the body one of my favourite Kaffe Fassett fabrics, and the legs are a recycled shirt. He looks particularly at home in the Asters which are in full bloom.



I am still going with the liberated sampler and have now run out of the 'Ten Little Things' fabric. It is looking a bit white at the moment so I think I will try and introduce some colour with the quilting. I wondered about big colourful running stitches like the Kantha quilts from India.Will keep you posted.

Mabel's tea party

I have been busy for the last 24 hours making a present for my niece whose birthday I forgot!

How bad is that?!

Anyway, after a trip to the local supermarket, I found just what I needed by way of a pink spotty case holding a tea set.

First of all I made Mabel.

She is another toy from one of my favourite books, Softies, and here she is..

Any tea party needs a cosy to keep the brew warm..

This was made from a piece of recycled linen shirt and a liberty scrap for the cup and is about 3.5" tall.

Oh, and Mabel nearly forgot, hang on a minute..

Napkins to protect their dresses (or trousers!)..

Finally I made a tablecloth from a piece of sheet, edged with bias cut recycled shirt, and appliqued with some precious 1" liberty hexagons.

And there you have it.

A new friend called Mabel and a tea set ready to party.

All packed up in a pink spotty case.

And to top it off I came home with a fresh, warm pot of lemon curd.

Yum.

A softy and a box of brownies..

This Nelly was hastily assembled and put in a bag with a box of chocolate brownies as a get well gift for a little boy.

We hope you feel better soon.

Easter Bunnies for the fair.

It is nearly easter and we have a school fair next week.

 I have been asked to do the craft stall which seems to have become a bit of a habit. Having done a number of sewing projects in the past I have decided it is time for a change this year, and will be doing some paper crafts with the children (details to follow when I have worked them out!).

I have been making some easter bunny finger puppets to sell..

In case anyone else has a similar task these little fellows are very simple and would be fine for older (9-10 +) children to make themselves.

I sarted by cutting two body/head pieces from blanket, and two ears from scraps of pretty cotton fabric..

Then I embroidered two eyes(french knots) and a mouth.

I hot glued a nose which was a tiny pink craft pompom.

Finally I blanket stitched round the edge of the two body/head segments, catching in the ears folded over at the base.

Happy weekend.